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Exclusive: Fifth Season is nearing a deal to produce A Ladder to the Sky, a feature adaptation of the 2018 novel by John Boyne, with two-time Emmy winner Johan Renck (Chernobyl) in talks to direct. Fresh off of eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, for his papal thriller Conclave, Edward Berger is among the other producers.

A Ladder to the Sky is described as a thrilling drama about an ambitious, handsome young writer who manipulates, seduces, and plagiarizes his way to literary stardom. His obsession with climbing the ranks sends him journeying through the Amalfi Coast, Manhattan, London, and beyond — but the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall.

Published by The Hogarth Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, the book was shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the 2018 Irish Book Awards.

Renck will work from a script by BAFTA nominee Andres Heinz (Black Swan) and the...

In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week we look at several music videos by director Johan Renck. Johan Renck's new film Spaceman, is only his second feature, after the minor indie release Downloading Nancy, but that doesn't mean he hasn't had a storied career. In fact, he has worn many hats, and his career seems only now to have reached the stellar proportions where something Renck-directed has automatic buzz. That is mostly due to a one-two-punch in recent years. After directing some big Breaking Bad episodes he hit it big by directing the entirety of HBO's hit series Chernobyl. Just a few years before that though, he made two music videos that...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Filmmaker Johan Renck’s moody new existential relationship astronaut movie with Adam Sandler, “Spaceman,” debuts today on Netflix. It’s the filmmaker’s first feature in 16 years, following 2008’s “Downloading Nancy,” but it’s not like he’s been away. After a career started in music videos—famous clips for artists like Madonna, Beyonce, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, and more—Renck has spent the better part of the last decade in the world of television.

Continue reading ’Spaceman’: Director Johan Renck Talks Adam Sandler’s “Watchable Vulnerability.” David Bowie’s Influence & More [Interview] at The Playlist.

Spaceman is directed by Johan Renck, who previously directed all five episodes of the 2019 HBO miniseries Chernobyl. Chernobyl received widespread critical acclaim and is considered one of the best miniseries of all time, making Spaceman even more exciting for Chernobyl fans. Venturing into uncharted territory, Sandler's dramatic role in Spaceman could mark a new high in his Netflix filmography.

Adam Sandler's new Netflix sci-fi movie Spaceman will be an especially exciting watch for fans of one HBO miniseries from 2019 because of something significant the two projects have in common. Based on the 2017 novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař, Spaceman follows a lone Czech astronaut named Jakub (Sandler) sent on a mission to the edge of the solar system. As Jakub finds himself lost in space on his way back to Earth to save his marriage with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he encounters a mysterious, ancient creature named...

In Spaceman, Adam Sandler joins a long line of lonely men lost in space, a proud cinematic tradition going back past Ryan Gosling’s First Man, Brad Pitt in Ad Astra, Sam Rockwell in Moon, and Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar to the crew in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris.

The latest in this sci-fi linage, adapted from Jaroslav Kalfar’s novel Spaceman of Bohemia, is set in an alternative future where the Czechs are frontrunners in the space race and their national hero is Jakub (Sandler), a cosmonaut on a solo mission to investigate a mysterious dust cloud on the edge of Jupiter that might just hold the secrets of the universe.

But millions of miles away from home, and from his pregnant wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), Jakub is consumed by loneliness and existential angst. Enter a huge, telepathic and empathetic space spider, voiced by Paul Dano, who promises to help...

Adam Sandler heads off into space for Netflix’s cerebral-sounding sci-fi drama, Spaceman. There’s a brand new trailer to watch!

Update 17th January 2024: A new trailer has landed for Spaceman, Chernobyl director Johan Renck’s upcoming sci-fi film. Starring Adam Sandler, it’s coming to Netflix on the 1st March, and following on from the likes of Uncut Gems and Punch-Drunk Love, it looks like a more introspective, thoughtful performance from an actor better known for his broader-than-a-motorway comedies.

Also, Paul Dano provides the voice of a gigantic alien space spider, which turns up in Sandler’s interstellar craft to provide much-needed counselling as he pines after his estranged wife (Carey Mulligan). Sounds fabulous, doesn’t it? The new, full trailer looks fabulous too. And sounds it, thanks to a novel reimagining of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.

Have a gander:

Our original story follows…

16th December 2023: In between the squawking,...

"An intergalactic odyssey of love, ambition, and self-discovery." Netflix has revealed a first look teaser for a new film titled Spaceman, a surprise release coming up in March 2024. It's a new film directed by Swedish filmmaker Johan Renck, who's mostly been making music videos + TV since his feature debut Downloading Nancy in 2008. Based on the true story of Jakub Procházka, raised in the Czech countryside, who becomes the country's first astronaut. But the film tells a different story. Six months into a solitary research mission, Jakub realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him whenever he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. The sci-fi film stars Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, and Paul Dano, directed by Johan Renck, based on the...

Adam Sandler will portray an astronaut in Netflix’s untitled adaptation of Jaroslav Kalfar’s novel “The Spaceman of Bohemia.”

The story centers on an astronaut sent to the edge of the galaxy to collect mysterious, ancient dust, when he finds his earthly life falling to pieces. He turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together — a creature from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship.

Johan Renck, whose credits include “Chernobyl,” “Last Panthers,” and “Downloading Nancy,” is directing from a script by Colby Day.

“As we prepare for our voyage to Chopra, I couldn’t be more pleased to have found the perfect partner in Adam,” Renck said. “And now, with the support of the brilliant Netflix family, I am profoundly excited to set off on our impossible journey.”

Producers are Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin, Peter Kiernan and...

Who got signed, promoted, hired or fired? The Hollywood Reporter’s Rep Sheet rounds up the week in representation news. To submit announcements for consideration, contact rebecca.sun@thr.com.

Found boy

Jason Patric has signed with Abrams. He was previously with Apa.

The Lost Boys star's recent credits include 2017 war film The Yellow Birds and season two of Fox's Wayward Pines. He is now shooting Peter Facinelli's indie action thriller Hour of Lead, also starring Anne Heche and Thomas Jane.

Patric has starred in films including After Dark My Sweet, Geronimo: An American Legend, The Journey of August King, Sleepers, Narc, The Alamo, Downloading Nancy, Expired, My Sister's Keeper and ...

Who got signed, promoted, hired or fired? The Hollywood Reporter’s Rep Sheet rounds up the week in representation news. To submit announcements for consideration, contact rebecca.sun@thr.com.

Found boy

Jason Patric has signed with Abrams. He was previously with Apa.

The Lost Boys star's recent credits include 2017 war film The Yellow Birds and season two of Fox's Wayward Pines. He is now shooting Peter Facinelli's indie action thriller Hour of Lead, also starring Anne Heche and Thomas Jane.

Patric has starred in films including After Dark My Sweet, Geronimo: An American Legend, The Journey of August King, Sleepers, Narc, The Alamo, Downloading Nancy, Expired, My Sister's Keeper and ...

While he’s currently shooting David Simon’s new HBO series The Deuce, which looks at the porn industry in the 1970s and ’80s in New York City, James Franco has another production which explores a more modern look at the industry. King Cobra, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year, follows Franco and Christian Slater as rival gay porn producers who fight over a burgeoning star. Ahead of a release next month, IFC Midnight has now released the first trailer.

We said in our review, “Throw Boogie Nights, Shooting Porn, Downloading Nancy, and Party Monster in a blender, add some cocaine, a scope of whey protein and squirt of lube and you’ve got the unexpectedly fun King Cobra. Inspired by a true story, the sophomore feature from writer-director Justin Kelly is a darkly comic tale set in the wake of Katrina, a piece of background information that informs the lack of smart phones,...

Throw Boogie Nights, Shooting Porn, Downloading Nancy, and Party Monster in a blender, add some cocaine, a scope of whey protein and squirt of lube and you’ve got the unexpectedly fun King Cobra. Inspired by a true story, the sophomore feature from writer-director Justin Kelly is a darkly comic tale set in the wake of Katrina, a piece of background information that informs the lack of smart phones, high-speed mobile data, and prevalence of primitive HD video in an otherwise timeless tale of creepy older men taking advantage of younger objects of desire.

Pitting two rival gay porn producers vying for the hot new thing, Brent Corrigan (Garrett Clayton), against each other, King Cobra is a lurid piece of business that, at times, goes gleefully over the top while lacking the kind of gut punch you might expect in the film’s third act. It’s more or less...

This summer, Fox's Wayward Pines is back for a second season with a star-studded cast which now includes Jason Patric (The Lost Boys, Narc).

Press Release: Jason Patric (“Rush,” “Narc”) has been cast in a leading role in Wayward Pines, the hit psychological thriller event series returning for a second season this summer on Fox. Patric will portray Dr. Theo Yedlin, a confident, driven surgeon whose leadership skills will prove invaluable to the residents of Wayward Pines.

From executive producer M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense,” “The Visit”) and based on the world created by author Blake Crouch in his international best-selling series of books, the 10-episode, second season will pick up after the shocking events of Season One, with the residents of Wayward Pines battling against the iron-fisted rule of the First Generation. Dr. Theo Yedlin – a new resident of Wayward Pines – awakens from suspended animation and finds himself...

Much has been made about how American television has embraced a more “limited series” approach, a la overseas television. In the same vein, there’s been a change in the American entertainment industry’s perception of TV. The small screen is no longer seen as a dead end or no man’s land for film actors. But again, this is something that has been done for years overseas, Alec Guinness was on the BBC playing George Smiley only a couple years after the colossal “Star Wars.” In fact, later this year a pair of some of the UK’s finest actors will be heading to the small screen for Sky Atlantic’s Euro-crime-thriller, “The Last Panthers” and a trailer has arrived online for the series. Spread across six parts directed by Jerome Peirrat (“Downloading Nancy”) and written by Jack Thorne (the TV show “Skins”), the show tracks the attempt to...

The first look at Kim Coates as the titular character in the Officer Downe feature film is showcased in our latest round-up. Also: details on Dead State: Reanimated, Creep, and Planetarium.

Officer Downe: Press Release -- "Officer Downe co-creator/screenwriter/producer Joe Casey (Ben 10/Marvel's Avengers Assemble), director/producer Shawn "Clown" Crahan (Slipknot), and producers Man of Action Entertainment (I Kill Giants, The Great Unknown, Big Hero 6 character/team creators from Marvel Comics "Alpha Flight"), Skip Williamson (Underworld), Mark Neveldine (Crank), Cole Payne (Downloading Nancy) and Cory Brennan (Slipknot manager) have cast Tyler Ross (Zombieland, American Milkshake) as Officer Gable opposite previously announced lead, Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy), in the independent film that began principal photography this week in Los Angeles. Lauren Velez (Dexter) has come aboard as Police Chief Berringer, Reno Wilson (Mike & Molly) and Bruno Gunn (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) will portray Officers Carter and Fritch.

With several new members added to its cast, cameras are now rolling on Officer Downe, the feature film adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name from Man of Action/Image Comics. Also included in our latest round-up are details on Anchor Bay Entertainment's I Spit On Your Grave: Vengeance is Mine and a look at a new Freddy Krueger-inspired ice cream cone print from Cavity Colors.

Officer Downe: Press Release - "Officer Downe co-creator/screenwriter/producer Joe Casey (Ben 10/Marvel's Avengers Assemble), director/producer Shawn "Clown" Crahan (Slipknot), and producers Man of Action Entertainment (I Kill Giants, The Great Unknown, Big Hero 6 character/team creators), Skip Williamson (Underworld), Mark Neveldine (Crank), Cole Payne (Downloading Nancy) and Cory Brennan (Slipknot manager) have cast Tyler Ross (Zombieland, American Milkshake) as Officer Gable opposite previously announced lead, Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy), in the independent film that...

Exclusive: Jacinda Barrett is set to co-star opposite Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini and Sissy Spacek in Netflix‘s 13-episode psychological thriller from Damages creators Todd A. Kessler, Daniel Zelman and Glenn Kessler and Sony Pictures TV. Swedish helmer Johan Renck (Breaking Bad, Downloading Nancy) will direct the opening episode of the series written and executive produced by the Kessler brothers and Zelman. It centers on a close-knit family of adult siblings whose secrets and scars are revealed when the black sheep oldest brother, Danny (Mendelsohn), returns home. Australian-born Barrett, repped by Gersh and Brillstein Entertainment, will play the strong-willed and devoted wife of the family’s “responsible” brother John (Chandler). She co-stared on ABC’s Zero Hour and has a recurring role on USA’s Suits opposite real-life husband Gabriel Macht.

Errors Of The Human Body producer Cole Payne has launched the Los Angeles-based film and television production, distribution and talent management company.

Management executive Jeremy Loethen, current head of the talent management department for Payne’s Interactor Media, will be a partner in the new venture.

The company has signed Zackary Adler to direct Casual Encounters, which is set to commence shooting this month in Los Angeles and will centre on a man who is persuaded to start online dating after an embarrassing public break-up. Erik Steinmetz and Sebastian J Michael wrote the screenplay and Payne will produce.

Traverse will distribute its first film Sugar, a recent acquisition from the Cinema At The Edge film festival. Rotimi Rainwater wrote and directed and Ari Palitz and Erin Ward produced the tale of a homeless girl with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Comedy Central Workaholics co-creator Conner Pritchard and author of the three-part sci-fi book series The Rho Agenda Richard Phillips have joined...

Darling Norman (Freddie Highmore) and his mother Norma (Vera Farmiga) will continue their uncomfortably close relationship for another season. A&E has renewed its "Psycho" prequel series "Bates Motel" for a second 10-episode season. The show, which comes from executive producers Carlton Cuse ("Lost") and Kerry Ehrin ("Friday Night Lights"), has turned out to be a hit for the network -- its premiere was the most-watched original drama debut in the key demographics in the A&E's history. Read More: 'Bates Motel': When Being a Prequel Becomes Only a Question of Foreshadowing Season two of "Bates Motel" is slated to premiere in 2014, and will begin pre-production later this year. The fourth episode of the first season of "Bates Motel," directed by "Downloading Nancy" helmer Johan Renck, aired last night. The show is a look at the formative years of Norman Bates, albeit one set in the present day,...

Actress Maria Bello has signed on to star in the upcoming, untitled James Wan thriller. One can only hope it's not the MacGyver movie. (I know, it's not.)

Wan is producing the thriller, directed by Will Canon (Brotherhood) and written by Max La Bella (Children's Hospital) based off an idea from Wan.

In the haunted house gone bad story (really, haunted houses very rarely end up good) Bello plays a police psychologist who arrives at the murder scene  of five college students whose night ghost hunting in an old house goes horribly, horribly wrong. The lone survivor says the house itself is responsible for the bloodbath. Sounds reasonable to me.

Bello's long list of credits include roles in A History of Violence, Assault on Precinct 13, and Downloading Nancy. Production is set to begin in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in January. ...

Spike Lee’s movie is called Red Hook Summer, but it delivered a few stunning left hooks and right hooks to the audience during its Sunday night debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

Going into the Park City showcase, the film appeared to be a coming-of-age story about an Atlanta boy named Flik, who ends up spending the summer with his preacher grandfather in the Red Hook housing project of Brooklyn. And it is that, for about three quarters of the running time. Flik bristles under the watch of his bible-thumping grandfather (played by The Wire’s Clarke Peters), gets life lessons from Mookie,...

The time has come to start contemplating parents who raise shooters for kids. There’s this and then There’s Something Wrong with Kevin. Is this the part where I...

Michael NyqvistMichael Nyqvist is best known (probably only known to most) as the journalist Mikael Blomkvist in the Swedish thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its subsequent sequels, the last of which, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest will be released this October and I just a few hours ago posted the latest trailer.

Well, like his Dragon Tattoo co-star, Noomi Rapace, who already landed a role as the female villain in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes 2, Nyqvist is finding Stateside love playing one of the lead villains in Paramount's Mission: Impossible IV.

Nyqvist is the second international star to join the production in the past two days after Vladimir Mashkov was announced yesterday as landing a role as a Russian agent. Mashkov has had small roles in Behind Enemy Lines as well as "Alias" in the past and he is also featured in this year's Russian Foreign Language Oscar submission,...

The Wrap are reporting that Stephen Dorff (Public Enemies) is in advanced talks to join Maria Bello (Downloading Nancy) in the indie-thriller Carjacked. Bello’s publicist has already confirmed her involvement.

Carjacked was penned by Michael and Sherry Compton, with Peter Medak, whose recent work has been mainly in Us TV, but has UK films The Krays and Let Him Have It as well as Species II under this belt, is attached to direct.

Carjacked centers a single mother and her child who are carjacked by a thief who has no intention of letting them go.

Gold Rush Entertainment and Mass Hysteria Entertainment will co-produce the film, with filming expected to commence next month in Louisiana.

Stephen Dorff, who’s currently on a career-comeback, will next be seen in Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, while Maria Bello can be seen in Shawn Ku’s Beautiful Boy. Both of which are due...

Another director has been named to join the illustrious few who will bring us Frank Darabont's take on the Robert Kirkman zombie epic The Walking Dead this fall. Shamble on for the details.

According to our bros at Bloody Disgusting another "Breaking Bad" alumnus, Johan Renck, will also be bringing the dead back to life. Renck (pictured right), who will direct the fourth episode of the first season, saw his unnerving Downloading Nancy go to theaters and VOD last year.

"The Walking Dead" is based on Robert Kirkman's popular comic series. It chronicles the months and years following a zombie apocalypse. Frank Darabont is the project's writer, director of the pilot, and exec producer with Anne Hurd and David Alpert also exec producing. Knb will be handling the effects, and Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey DeMunn, IronE Singleton, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun, Michael Rooker,...

We've got a quick exclusive that rivals the awesomeness of the announcement that Michelle Maxwell MacLaren - one of the director's behind AMC's incredible "Breaking Bad" and producer on "X-Files" - would be directing one of AMC's The Walking Dead episodes. While Frank Darabont got behind the camera for the pilot, Bloody Disgusting learned that another "Breaking Bad' Alumni, Johan Renck, will also be bringing the dead back to life. Renck, who will direct the fourth episode of the first season, saw his unnerving Downloading Nancy go to theaters and VOD last year. An adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic series, the project is set among a group of zombie survivors of an apocalypse who are led by a police officer, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), in search of a safe place to live. An October premiere is set.

They all say this show changed a little bit, but we guess it was expected for the 25th annual ceremony from Stapless Center, or if you prefer – the Spirit Awards.

Last week we were all occupied with Oscar, but it’s always the right time to take a look at (maybe) less popular ceremony, but still – the good one! We’re going to remind you of this ceremony highlights.

The Spirits, run by the nonprofit Film Independent, threw in some of its typically enjoyable ironic touches.

One of them was definitely David Spade who presented the best foreign award, starting with:

“You may not know this, but my movies play in other countries. They’re huge in Poland. I can’t set foot in Bulgaria.” Thanks for letting us know Spade!

On the other hand, we had a chance to see Ben Stiller, known for studio comedies more than any boutique film,...

While clearly not as closely followed as the Guild Awards, let alone the Golden Globes, the Independent Spirit Awards casts a much wider net in terms of nominees by accepting any film that is screened at various festivals, even if it's not released in theatres. It does, however, limit the film's budget to $20 million.

Precious won Best Feature and Lee Daniels nabbed the Best Director award. Precious ladies, Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique also won the female acting awards while Jeff Bridges and Woody Harrelson got the male acting gongs.

Here's the full list of the nominess and winners...

Best Feature

Precious

Amreeka

500 Days of Summer

Sin Nombre

The Last Station

Best First Feature

Crazy Heart

A Single Man

Easier with Practice

Paranormal Activity

The Messenger

Best Director

Lee Daniels - Precious

Ethan Coen & Joel Coen - A Serious Man

Cary Fukunaga - Sin Nombre

James Gray - Two Lovers

Michael Hoffman...

Last night the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards at La Live's panoramic event deck in downtown Los Angeles and talk about predictable as I nailed 12 of the 13 winners in the categories I predicted, with Precious being the night's biggest winner taking home Best Feature, Director, Actress, Supporting Actress and First Screenplay. The only category I missed was Best First Feature, which I predicted Oren Moverman's The Messenger would take home the award, but instead it went to Scott Cooper's Crazy Heart, which also won for Best Actor, awarding Jeff Bridges on his way to an Oscar win this Sunday.

I have listed all the winners below, see you Sunday for the Oscars.

Best Feature Amreeka (500) Days of Summer The Last Station Precious Sin Nombre Best Director Michael Hoffman, The Last Station Lee Daniels, Precious Joel and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man Cary Fukunaga, Sin Nombre James Gray, Two Lovers Best Actor Jeff Bridges,...

Carey Mulligan in An Education Precious Sweeps 25th Spirits Awards The Spirit Award nominations are selected by several groups of film professionals, scholars, and critics, depending on the categories. That explains how something like Alvarez’s micro-budgeted Easier with Practice received two nominations, including Best First Film. Or how Cary Fukunaga’s Spanish-language Sin Nombre, one of the best-received films last year, was in the running for three Spirit Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Or how Maria Bello and Souléymane Sy Savané were nominated for, respectively, Downloading Nancy and Goodbye, Solo. The Spirit Award winners, however, are voted on by anyone who’s a Film Independent or Independent Film Project member. That helps to explain why a popular hit with lots of Oscar buzz [...]...

"Precious" took home five major honors at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards including Gabourey Sidibe's first Best Actress win.

"Precious" won awards for Best Feature, Lee Daniels for Best Director, Geoffrey Fletcher for Best First Screenplay and Sidibe and Mo'Nique took home Best Actress and Best Supporting, respectively.

Best Feature

500 Days of Summer, Producers Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Mason Novick, Steven J. Wolfe

Amreeka, Producers Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin

Precious, Producers Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness

Sin Nombre, Producer Amy Kaufman

The Last Station, Producers Chris Curling, Jens Meurer, Boonie Arnold

Best Director

The Coen Brothers for A Serious Man

Lee Daniels for Precious

Cary Fukunaga for Sin Nombre

James Grey for Two Lovers

Michael Hoffman for The Last Station

Best First Feature

A Single Man

Crazy Heart

Easier With Practice

The Messenger

Paranormal Activity

John Cassavetes Award

Big Fan

Humpday

The New Year Parade

Treeless Mountain

Zero Bridge

Best Screenplay

Alessandro Camon,...

The Spirit Awards are nearly upon us. I will live blog haphazardly tonight whilst cleaning my apartment and fine tuning Oscar Party Plans. In the meantime, while you wait for the festivities to begin, I thought you should hear from a Spirit voter. So I'll let him take it from here. Hello everybody! Michael B here, writing my first (and hopefully not last) guest post. Let me tell you a few things about myself before I begin. I’m 19 years old, from Los Angeles, but reside in New York City during the fall and spring. I attend Nyu and major in Dramatic Writing, or also known as, Film, Play and Television Writing. I’m a huge Oscar buff—I live five blocks away from the Academy Building—and have been an avid reader and “chatty moviegoer” at The Film Experience for over five years. And I do too love the actresses.

Film Independent's Spirit Awards marked their 25th anniversary this year and shook things up by trading their afternoon beachside luncheon for a nighttime party downtown. The show was hosted by comedian Eddie Izzard and a handful of the actors who attended and presented were Jeremy Renner ("The Hurt Locker"), Maggie Gyllenhaal ("Crazy Heart"), Carey Mulligan ("An Education") and Vera Farmiga ("Up in the Air"). Best Actor winner Jeff Bridges performed a song from his film "Crazy Heart" with Oscar-nominated songwriters T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham. The rock band Anvil whose career was chronicled in the independent film "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" also performed live and took home Best Documentary.

The Spirit Awards have supported and rewarded independent films throughout the years and MakingOf is proud to have interviewed many of this year's nominees and winners. I've included the full list of nominated films and talent below along with links to our exclusive interviews.

I haven't talked about them since announcing the nominees back in December 2009, but tomorrow night, March 5, Film Independent will hold the 25th Annual Spirit Awards at La Live's panoramic event deck in downtown Los Angeles. The show will air live and uncut at 8:00 p.m. Pst/11:00 p.m. Est on IFC (Independent Film Channel).

I am going to be taking in a showing of the Broadway musical "Chicago" tomorrow night so I won't be reporting on the winners until late or possibly even Saturday morning, but for now here are my predictions for who will take home the Spirit Awards. Any of you disagree with my choices?

My winner predictions are bold and in red.

Best Feature Amreeka (500) Days of Summer The Last Station Precious Sin Nombre Best Director Michael Hoffman, The Last Station Lee Daniels, Precious Joel and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man Cary Fukunaga, Sin Nombre James Gray,...

Hollywood is full of actors who take their commitments to supporting the films the appear in seriously, but Maria Bello may just define industry loyalty among her peers.  Whether it was promoting the highly controversial "Downloading Nancy" or working tirelessly to get the word out on "The Cooler," Bello has rarely missed a chance to help a project she was involved with get some recognition.  That may make you conclude she's an opportunist, but in fact, she is always more focused on the work at hand than pushing her own career.  So, it came as no surprise that when the drama...

Ben Stiller, Olivia Wilde and this year's first-time Downloading Nancy nominee Maria Bello will be among those presenting Film Independent Spirit Awards at the March 5 ceremony, People has learned exclusively. Other presenters announced Friday are Emile Hirsch, former nominee Marisa Tomei and two-time winner (for Drugstore Cowboy and Crash) Matt Dillon. With Precious and The Last Station leading the nominations, this year's event - to be hosted by comedian Eddie Izzard from the La Live event deck in downtown Los Angeles - marks the 25th anniversary of the Independent Spirit Awards, which recognizes achievement in indie movies. The Film Independent...

So I grabbed a midnight showing to the second official screening to Habib Azar's Armless, and I've got to say that the Next section is what it is - small films that are a little rough around the edges but manage to deliver the goods. Here we have an original story idea, that takes on a disturbing subject matter with a generous dose of comedic strokes -- think Downloading Nancy with taboo comedy - I'm thinking daytime soaps certainly influenced Azar's approach. - I'm about to begin Day 6, and I'm still in the process of finishing Day 3 coverage on the site. Fact is, there is only a limited available amount of time each day to write out something before crashing and waking up 6 hours for the next day of screenings. So I grabbed a midnight showing to the second official screening to Habib Azar's Armless, and I've got...

Pretty huge DVD release date today, with a number of great but underseen flicks hitting stores including Oscar favourite The Hurt Locker and indie sci-fi hit Moon, plus British political comedy In The Loop, Robert Siegel's Big Fan, Guillermo Arriaga's The Burning Plain, and the Oscar-nominated Japanese film Departures. Also out today is the solid HBO doc By The People: The Election of Barack Obama, the Criterion Blu-ray release of Federico Fellini's 8 1/2, not to mention Cliffhanger and Last Action Hero also on Blu-ray. Will you be buying or renting anything this week? I hope you saved a little bit of money from Christmas, because a lot of these are definitely must-see material! The Hurt Locker [1] (+ Blu-ray [2]) Moon [3] (+ Blu-ray [4]) In The Loop [5] (+ Blu-ray [6]) Halloween II [7] (+ Blu-ray [8]) Post-Grad [9] (+ Blu-ray [10]) Fame [11] (+ Blu-ray [12]) Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself [13] (+ Blu-ray [14]) Departures [15] Big Fan [16] The Burning Plain [17] (+ Blu-ray [18]) Amreeka [19] Downloading Nancy [20] You,...

Some standouts from 2009 hit DVD and blu-ray today including Duncan Jones' Moon (review, amazon), and Katheryn Bigelow's truly amazing bomb-sqaud drama The Hurt Locker (amazon). Both are well worth your time so if you haven't seen them, now's your chance.

Also out today are a couple of stellar indies that got lost in the shuffle. Rian Johnson's con-man romp, The Brothers Bloom (amazon), hits after a loooong wait. This one got some mixed to downright terrible reviews, but I enjoyed it immensely and would easily recommend it to indie fans. The other flick, perhaps for the more adventurous viewer, is Downloading Nancy (trailer, amazon)). It made Marina's top 5 of 2009 list so now I have to see it.

On the horror front we're only really getting one worth a look and that's Rob Zombie's sequel to his own Halloween reboot, Halloween II (review, amazon).

Even though some people may think the video rental giant is on it last legs due to competition from companies like Netflix, they still rent a heck of a lot of movies. So many, in fact, they make a list of the top rentals and we’ve got that list from last week to share with you today, direct from the official press release. Check it out.

Topping the Hit List of “Top 10 Rented DVD Titles” for the week ending Jan. 3 is Paranormal Activity. This release media includes an alternative ending not seen in theatrical version.

Blockbuster Hit List

Top 10 Renting DVD Titles at U.S. Blockbuster stores for the week ending Jan. 3, 2009:

1. Paranormal Activity

2. The Hangover

3. District 9

4. Inglorious Basterds

5. All About Steve

6. A Perfect Getaway

7. Jennifer’s Body

8. Public Enemies

9. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

10. 500 Days of Summer

Top 10 Selling DVD Titles at U.S. Blockbuster stores for the week ending Jan.

Looking over the team's top-five of 2009 lists today it struck me what a diverse year for genre cinema it was. Oh sure, there are certain titles that managed to make it onto almost everyone's lists (Moon and Antichrist being two clear winners), but, put together, the titles run the gamut of film styles - like the best film festival program you could image.

I certainly didn't think I'd see films like The Hangover bumping up against The Road, or a double bill of Ursula Meiers' French oddity, Home, and Stingray Sam, but it's all just too cool of a mash-up to ignore and I may have to program a little private festival of some of these titles for viewing over the holidays.

But anyway, sit back, grab a drink, peruse the lists and refresh your memory of all the films you should be netflixing, buying or borrowing in the new year.

The Spirit nominations were announced, and Precious is leading the pack alongside The Last Station. Each film was nominated for five awards apiece. Precious starring Mariah Carey, and The Last Station starring Paul Giamatti were both nominated for best feature, as well as 500 Days of Summer, Amreeka, and Sin Nombre. For the best male actor category, the race is between Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart, Colin Firth for A Single Man, Joseph Gordon Levitt for 500 Days of Summer Souleymane Sy Savane for Goodbye Solo and Adam Scott for The Vicious Kind. Mario Bellow in Downloading Nancy, Nisreen Faour...

The Spirit nominations were announced, and Precious is leading the pack alongside The Last Station. Each film was nominated for five awards apiece. Precious starring Mariah Carey, and The Last Station starring Paul Giamatti were both nominated for best feature, as well as 500 Days of Summer, Amreeka, and Sin Nombre. For the best male actor category, the race is between Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart, Colin Firth for A Single Man, Joseph Gordon Levitt for 500 Days of Summer Souleymane Sy Savane for Goodbye Solo and Adam Scott for The Vicious Kind. Mario Bellow in Downloading Nancy, Nisreen Faour...

"Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" has come out as one of the nominations leaders at 2010 Independent Spirit Awards. The drama film, which sees Mariah Carey as a social worker, was on Tuesday, December 1 announced to be collecting five nods from the awards honoring independent filmmakers, and thus shared similar number with another drama "The Last Station".

The movie about an abused teen mother nabbed nominations for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Female Lead, Best First Screenplay and Best Supporting Female. It will battle against "Last Station" in the first three categories. For the Best Feature title, it is also up against "500 Days of Summer" "Amreeka" and "Sin Nombre".

"Precious" fails to bring recognition to Carey, but it does land two of its other major cast Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique. Sidibe is listed against Maria Bello, Nisreen Faour, Gwyneth Paltrow and Helen Mirren for Best Female Lead, while...

The Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominees earlier today. Listed below is the complete list of this year's nominated films, cast and crew members. MakingOf would like to congratulate the nominees and applaud the diverse roster of talented filmmakers. Please scroll down for links to exclusive interviews we've conducted with some of the nominated directors and writers.

The Independent Spirit Awards eligibility requirements for consideration are that the feature film must be 70 minutes in length and the total cost must be below $20 million. A film also must have screened at a major film festival or had a one-week engagement at a commercial theater.

The awards' ceremony has taken place the past 24 years the Saturday afternoon before the Academy Awards in Santa Monica. The ceremony is moving this year to downtown L.A. and will be held in the evening on Friday, March 5th.

This year's Independent Spirit Awards Nominees:

Best...

The Spirit Awards are coming! In 95 days. The nominees have a long time to decide which pair of jeans or casual designer wear would best suit the event. Though the Spirits have traditionally passed out their ever-so-slightly off mainstream prizes the day before the Oscars this year they’re moving to a Friday night situation on March 5th. All the better for partying? Still time to use those hangover cures before the Oscars on Sunday.

Sin Nombre, a 3 time nomineeHere are the nominees

Best Feature(500) Days Of Summer | Amreeka |Precious | Sin Nombre | The Last StationI warned y'all that The Last Station would have more awards strength than many pundits are indicating. I must get around to Sin Nombre before the end of this year. I suspect Precious is your winner since the Spirits generally award the actual Oscar hopefuls.

Best Director

The Coen Bros A Serious Man | Lee Daniels Precious...

Although the nominees for the Academy Awards won't be announced until sometime next year, a few of the other award ceremonies are already in full swing including the Independent Spirit Awards, which recognize the best films shot for $20 million or less. This year's Spirit Award nominees were announced earlier today, and I think there are definitely some interesting choices. First off, the big one that everyone is picking up on is the fact that Paranormal Activity was nominated for Best First Feature. And why shouldn't it be? The Blair Witch Project won the exact same award back in 2000. Anvil! The Story of Anvil has been redeemed somewhat for the Oscar snub by getting a nod here for Best Documentary, and surprisingly, Jemaine Clement picked up a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Gentlemen Broncos. Other than that, some of the movies that scored multiple nominations include Precious, (500) Days of Summer,...

The 2009 Independent Spirit Nominations were handed out today, and we're duty bound to report them so that you can visualize all the great movies that aren't playing at your local multiplex in Sheboygan. Actually, I don't know what is says about the industry, but some of the choices seem somewhat obscure by even my own indie-friendly tastes. There were a few really great indies this year, but there wasn't a lot of depth, which means it's roughly the same five films nominated for everything, and only three of them got any sort of real exposure outside of NY/La. But then again, that's what awards like these are for: To highlight films that we're missing. I have some favorites, but I'll keep my mouth shut and just present the nominees. My guess is that, besides Precious, a screenplay nod for (500) Days and an acting nod for Jeff Bridges, you won't...

Actors Taraji P. Henson and Matt Dillon announced the nominees for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards on Tuesday morning. Dramatic films "The Last Station" and "Precious" lead the pack with five nods each.

The winners will be announced on Friday, March 5, 2010 in L.A.

2010 Spirit Award Nominations

Best Feature (Award given to the Producer, Executive Producers are not listed)

(500) Days of Summer - Producers: Mason Novick, Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Steven J. Wolfe

Amreeka - Producers: Paul Barkin,...

Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire and The Last Station led the nominations for the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards with five each.

Both were nominated for best feature along with (500) Days of Summer, Amreeka, and Sin Nombre.

If you’re wondering where indie favorite and Oscar hopeful The Hurt Locker is, the movie was submitted for consideration last year and was no eligible for this year’s list. Though Kathryn Bigelow picked up “Best Feature” for the film at the Gotham Independent Film Awards last night.

As far as I know, Duncan Jones’ Moon is considered a British film and was correctly included in the British Indie Film nominees with several other solid picks (though I didn’t care for Fish Tank).

I was glad to see Anvil! included in the documentaries after it was left off the Oscar short list — though where’s The Cove? — plus love for 500 Days and Adventureland,...